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A Dash of Pepper

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He's on 24/7. You can't turn the TV on without encountering the visage of the president accompanied by ringing and sonorous tones. If it's not a public speech or event, it's a public service announcement featuring Obama lecturing young men on the responsibilities of fatherhood.
He is also the spokesman for a nonprofit group that extols the virtues of donating time to public service work, at a time when over six million Americans have lost their paychecks. He even turns up on late-night TV - you cannot escape. He'll catch before you go to sleep!
I keep wondering why someone on his White House communication team hasn't realized this over exposure is transforming the president into someone who is at least banal and, at worst, a crashing bore. The answer may be that they cannot step back - they still see him as someone almost God-like and above the fray. But he's not. He's just a politician.
The constant media presence is tiresome, but repetition isn't the only problem. The tone is often strange. In Oslo, he made this almost God-like pronouncement: "I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problem of war." The wording has more than a touch of vanity writ large, but if you are in the audience, would you be left thinking, "Did he forget to bring the solution with him. Is it sitting back in a drawer in the Oval Office?"
Obviously, down through the ages, many great minds have wrestled with the idea of warfare. I often have the impression he thinks he is speaking to small children.
He also frequently engages in outright scolding. He recently said he didn't run for office to support big pay checks for bankers. Meanwhile, his administration has, quietly, walked hand in hand in a cozy relationship with several financial institutions.
Obama also engages in bald statements of the obvious, the kind of rhetoric that leaves most people thinking, "Well, duh!" Then there is the overweening narcissism. The pronoun "I" is constantly used, where most former presidents have preferred the collective "We."
The body language is also disquieting. He often looks up toward the heavens. The resulting photos are only missing the halo of the savior, although you can find those photo-shopped on the Internet.
I said in this column in July 2008 during the presidential campaign that Obama made me uncomfortable because his public persona reminded me of the scary character played by Andy Griffith in the move "A Face in the Crowd." I still feel that way with every appearance he makes, only more so.
On the upside, the constant exposure is turning him into a bore.
Copyright©2009SheilahPepper
 

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